


Larger Than Fiction

by serotinous



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: (a bit?), Fluff and Crack, M/M, Metafiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27655564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serotinous/pseuds/serotinous
Summary: Qui-Gon was introduced to the horror of fanfic.
Relationships: Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 16
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece of unadulterated self indulgence. The author apologized for nothing except for the title.

Contrary to what others might have said, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn didn’t consider himself to be particularly rebellious, but from time to time he did wonder whether his peers had gone collectively mad.

Like now.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Adi.”

“You have no idea what ‘Master and Apprentice’ is?” Adi Gallia sounded genuinely surprised.

“Should I?”

“It is perhaps the most popular holo series that has ever been made in the history of the Republic. I’m shocked that you didn’t know of it.”

“I’m shocked that between Padawan Tachi and your paperwork as a council member you somehow managed to find time for holo shows.” Qui-Gon snorted.

“Actually it’s Siri that recommended the series to me, but that’s beside the point.” Adi retorted, “The series is not just expertly made and wildly entertaining but more importantly the main characters are fictionalized members of the Order. In fact, the series is so well received that the Chancellor has asked Master Yoda whether it can be made part of the Senate’s recent publicity campaign.”

“And you are actually going to discuss this request on the next council session?” Qui-Gon asked incredulously. If this was what council members needed to go through for their daytime job, no wonder he didn’t want to join the club, despite Yoda’s repeated invitations.

“So quick in judgment, you should not be.”

Qui-Gon rolled his eyes to Adi’s quip, but apparently his friend was not finished, “I’m being serious here, Qui-Gon. It’ll be a shame if you can’t find it in yourself to enjoy the show. Come to think of it, I think the titular ‘Master’ is actually based on you, and I’ve got to say the characterization is spot on.”

“Thank you for your advice, Master Gallia, I will definitely steer clear of the series then.”

To Qui-Gon’s dismay, however, since Adi Gallia brought ‘Master and Apprentice’ to his attention, he realized the damned show had infiltrated the Temple far more widely than he was comfortable with, if the hushed but heated discussions about the latest episode in the mess hall were anything to go by.

The only person who seemed to be unaffected, apart from Qui-Gon himself, turned out to be his own apprentice. Thank the force for small mercy, Qui-Gon thought wryly. He had no idea how to handle the situation should Obi-Wan also become an avid admirer of the holo series. Qui-Gon was ready to admit the plot was surprisingly coherent and the acting was reasonably competent, but he still failed to the see the appeal. Why would a real Jedi want to watch some fictional Jedi?

On second thought, that’s probably not the series’ fault, Qui-Gon winced. Adi didn’t mention that ‘Master’ character bore more than a passing resemblance to himself, and it was downright creepy to look at his semi-double delivering lines that sounded like straight from his mouth but in reality never uttered from his mouth.

\--I will do what I must.

On the screen, the master character, named ‘Quinton’ of all things, announced solemnly and dramatically. Qui-Gon narrowed his eyes. He was relatively sure that _he_ had never been that insufferable.

Had he?

\--Yes, Master.

The apprentice character, with the curiously ordinary name ‘Ben’, bowed his head dutifully but with palpable reluctance.

Just like Obi-Wan when faced with his master’s sometimes unorthodox methods, but this time Qui-Gon could be definitely sure that _his_ apprentice had never looked at _him_ so wistfully. Yes, he was quite sure on that matter.

Qui-Gon shook his head, scrolling down on his datapad to read another review article covering the series, and then realized he could not understand half of it.

“What in the name of the force is ‘UST’?” He frowned.

“It means unresolved sexual tension.” From the other side of the low table, Obi-Wan answered automatically. Before Qui-Gon could reply, his Padawan suddenly realized what had been asked, dropped whatever coursework assignment he was working on, and stared gobsmacked as if Qui-Gon had just declared his intention to court Master Jocasta Nu, ‘What—Why—How do you even know UST?!’

“I’m being too curious for my own good, apparently.” Qui-Gon shrugged, “Never mind, but Obi-Wan, you seemed preoccupied lately. Is this about your current coursework?”

His studious student pouted, “Am I really that obvious?”

Qui-Gon gave him an amused smile, “You do understand that these Temple classes are designed implicitly for senior Padawans to take a breath between field missions and to catch up with their peers. The coursework is not supposed to be something you need to worry about.”

“I know that. It’s just...” Obi-Wan hesitated for a moment, “We’ve been asked to do this writing project about the ‘Master and Apprentice’ series—”

“Not that thrice damned show again—” Qui-Gon mumbled.

His apprentice shot him a sharp look, “I have no idea you watched that series, too, Master.”

“I didn’t.” Qui-Gon sighed, “How about you? Did you enjoy watching it?”

Obi-Wan looked somewhat nonchalant, “Well, I can certainly appreciate the socio-political as well as the artistic value of the work, but I do not understand why everybody is so overtly enthusiastic about it.”

Great minds think alike. Qui-Gon knew it’s not the Jedi way, but he couldn’t help preening a little. “That’s exactly what I thought, but anyway, Obi-Wan, you don’t need to concern yourself with the project. I have great faith in your writing skills, and I’m sure whatever you produce will be nothing but delightful.” After all, not every Padawan was able to pull up mission reports that technically stuck to all the facts and also didn’t alarm the High Council (too much).

“So... Master, you don’t care for the series.”

Qui-Gon nodded.

“In that case,” Obi-Wan smiled pleasantly, “you’re right, Master, indeed I have nothing to worry about.”

——

Qui-Gon thought the brief exchange with Obi-Wan was the last time he would ever hear about the series. He was wrong.

For the second time Qui-Gon found himself wondering whether his peers had collectively lost their mind, again. “You were asking me to do what?”

“Find the writer of this ongoing serial novel ‘Jedi Apprentice’, you need to.”

“And why would the Council want to”—sacrifice time and money and manpower and Qui-Gon’s peace of mind— “to do that?”

“Strictly speaking this was not an official council decision, as Chancellor Valorum put in the request privately. He asked for you because you two have always been on amicable terms. It is a personal favor, so you can always refuse.” Mace Windu explained, rather unhelpfully.

“Forgive me for asking,” Qui-Gon pinched the bridge of his nose, “but let me double check whether I have understood the situation correctly: The Chancellor asked you to ask me to find the person responsible for this fan written serial, based on that disastrously successful ‘Master and Apprentice’, not because the person used private intellectual properties without permission, but because the producer of the original series wanted to buy adaptation rights from said person?!”

“A bit slow lately, you have been.”

Qui-Gon grinded his teeth.

“The seasonal finale is due next month, and the producer reasoned that in order to maintain the current level of popularity, the best approach would be incorporating the serial novel, which has already gathered a massive following on the holonet.” Outwardly, Mace was all Jedi Master serenity, but Qui-Gon was damned sure inwardly the bastard was laughing his head off.

“Are you telling me people are not only crazy about the stupid show but also crazy about its fanfiction?” Qui-Gon heaved a heavy sigh, “Don’t answer that. It’s a rhetorical question. But I do like to know why didn’t the producer, or anybody else on the crew for the matter, approach the writer themselves?” _Why me?_

“Because they already did, but the presence of this writer on the holonet proved to be a bit, shall we say, elusive. They could not secure anything concrete, so they came to you, my friend, the best diplomat in the whole Republic.” Mace smiled, white teeth flashing.

“For the public good, the mission is. Accept it, you should.”

“Very well.” Qui-Gon sighed again. He almost slipped out “I’ll try my best” but hold his tongue at the last moment.

“May the Force be with you.”

The little green troll had the nerve to actually look sympathetic, Qui-Gon mused darkly, and whoever that fan writer might be, he would definitely give them a piece of his mind.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Qui-Gon was introduced to more horrors of fanfic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the late update! Took a detour in the Hannigram fandom and I have to say, it gave me way too many ideas for Sith!Qui...
> 
> Hope you'll enjoy!

Qui-Gon should have realised that given the frenzy over the show, the JA series would not have been the only fan-created material he could find on the holonet, but he was still shocked at the sheer number of the hits when he had simply made a cursory search of relevant fanworks.

He was even more shocked to find himself actually enjoying the JA series, at least much more than he did the original holoshow.

“Well, you’ve always been more into the written works instead of the visual ones, especially those high fantasy fiction.” Adi Gallia snorted good-naturedly. “I remember your old Master Dooku was quite upset that his Padawan should prefer those fairytales over the pre-Republic Alderaanian poetry, which to be fair only someone like Dooku would choose for pleasure reading, so rest assured, Qui-Gon, your literary taste is not hopeless.”

“My literary taste or lack thereof is completely irrelevant.” Qui-Gon waved his fork with perhaps a bit unnecessary force. Dinner time with friends between missions should be appreciated, treasured even, if only the friend in question could stop interrogating him about any progress in his latest non-mission. “And in any case, one does not need ‘taste’ to see the JA series is written, at the very least, by someone capable. You should have seen the grammatical glitches in some of the other fanfictions.” They gave him shudders. “My real concern, on the other hand, is perhaps our mysterious author is probably too capable.”

Adi raised one eyebrow.

“Their knowledge of the inner workings of the Order and the Glactic Senate seems not to be something you can simply search for yourself on the holonet.”

Adi raised another eyebrow as well. “You think we have a security breach at hand?”

“Nothing that serious.” Qui-Gon quickly amended, “Otherwise the Chancellor’s office would have asked to find the author for very different reasons. It was—I don’t know how to put it—it was those little things.” He paused for a moment, chewing his salad in silence. “The details. The insights. The jokes, at times with the Senate or the Jedi High Council as the butt, mind you.”

Adi leaned back. “Somebody here sounds really impressed.” She smirked. Before Qui-Gon could protest, however, she had the good sense to dip her head as an apology for the interruption, so Qui-Gon continued, with a huff, “My working hypothesis is that some Padawan has enjoyed gossiping with their civilian friends too much.”

Adi snorted again. “Like you don’t.”

Qui-Gon smiled, all Jedi Master serenity firmly in place. “I never gossip, Master Gallia. I merely exchange observations.”

His friend had the good manner not to roll her eyes too blatantly. “What next? It’ll be very time consuming to conduct private interview with every Padawan currently in the temple, not to mention those on field mission.”

“I have some idea, but I need access to more works of the JA author, perhaps the restricted ones. The holo-site they post has adopted a rather, uh, unorthodox security protocol, and I cannot bypass their user access control system.”

Adi looked amused. “Too unorthodox even for the Maverick Jinn?”

“You know I am not as technically oriented as some of my peers.”

“Only you could make that sound like an insult.” Adi shook her head. “I’ll see what I can do, but seriously, why would some fan based holo-site need this level of firewalls? Sounds like an overkill.”

Qui-Gon shrugged. “I have no idea.”

——

He did have absolutely no idea, and apparently, neither did he consider the possibility that the restricted works were restricted for a reason.

On the screen, one faceless writer after another was trying their best (or worst) to describe how the two titular characters in “Master and Apprentice” were truly, madly, deeply in love with each other, in every possible meaning of the word “deeply”.

With too many adverbs, and way too many synonyms of “large” and “wet”.

Although Qui-Gon was alone in his bedroom, he somehow coughed at his own thought in embarrassment.

That being said, it was a thrice damned miracle that among all the horrible compositions, the author of the JA series still managed to remain succinct and elegant in his writing, even in the bedroom scenes. Yes, _his_ writing. Again Qui-Gon found it hard to put his thumb on it, but he could almost feel the author’s signature in the Force. It was a male presence.

Although in this case he would rather the Force be a bit more specific when shedding light on him, and be done with it.

On the other hand, he had to admit anyone who could maintain that kind of balance between witty banter, emotional tension and, uh, sensual appeal in one piece of work, moved far beyond of simply being “capable”. He could understand now why this one particular writer had become so popular, and how he himself could see the allure — No! Wait. No, he couldn’t.

His brain really needed to stop making these totally unhelpful observations. Qui-Gon rubbed his forehead in weariness.

“Master, would you like to take a break?” His apprentice chose that moment to poke his head into the bedroom. “I’ve just made some sapir tea.”

“Of course, Obi-Wan.” If nothing else, he definitely needed a cup of tea after all the madness.

“So did you find anything interesting on the holonet?” Obi-Wan asked curiously, “You’ve been staring at that datapad for like two hours.”

It certainly felt much longer. Qui-Gon sighed. “I have been tasked to trail someone with no more than their verbal characteristics, which reminds me, Obi-Wan, you have still got the algorithm you wrote for stylistics profiling, have you? I might need it later.”

“Sure, but Master, that algorithm cannot be run on the terminal we keep here. It needs more —”

“— More computing capacity. I know, Padawan, I’m not that ignorant in the technical aspect.” Qui-Gon harrumphed in mock indignation.

His apprentice pouted. The expression would look hilarious on any other Padawan at his age with that severe haircut, but on Obi-Wan it looked more adorable than it should.

Which he should not have noticed in the first place. Qui-Gon’s brain added, again unhelpfully.

“Are you going to the central archive then, Master?”

“Yes, and preferably tonight.” Qui-Gon softened. Now he realised why Obi-Wan looked so put out earlier. “I’m sorry I cannot have dinner with you later as we arranged, Padawan, but the task is sort of time sensitive —” and downright unnerving —“So I would rather wrap it up as fast as I can.”

“Of course, Master.” His Padawan agreed dutifully. “I just hope the Council will not give you any more urgent mission during your downtime.”

Qui-Gon smiled. “I’m afraid even unofficially, I would not call ‘finding out who wrote the Jedi Apprentice’ as a ‘mission’.”

For a second Obi-Wan simply froze. Then he made a chocked sound when he apparently breathed in half cup of his sapir tea.

“Obi-Wan! Are you all right?”

“I’m-I’m fine Master. I’m just-You promised you wouldn’t watch that damned ‘Master and Apprentice’ series!”

“Well, I didn’t watch any more of the series after we talked about it last time, if that is what you mean.”

“But JA is a fanfic based on that series!”

“Yes, indeed it is.” Qui-Gon said reasonably, “And since you claimed to have no interest in the show either, if my memory serves me right, how come you know of any fanworks based on it?”

“I-uh-I heard of it.” Obi-Wan mumbled.

“Anyway, I can assure you, my Padawan, I do not engage myself with that series because it is to my liking. It is not as if I enjoy reading it—” _Liar_! His brain gleefully pointed out. Or is it his conscience? —“As I mentioned earlier, I need to find the author so that I can tell Mace Windu to his face that —”

Obi-Wan sprang up. “I-I just remembered I lent the copy of the algorithm to some of my friends ages ago, so-uh-so I need to go to ask them to return it back! See you later Master!”

“But can’t you just comm them —”

And within a blink of the eye, his apprentice disappeared from the room.

This was no longer in the territory of unnerving. This was being suspicious. Qui-Gon frowned. Obi-Wan was involved in a seemingly heated discussion with Bruck Chun, of all people, or at least his side of the discussion was heated, so much so that he didn’t even sense the approach of Qui-Gon from the other side of the corridor.

“This is serious! I’m being serious! You must take down all of them. This is such a stupid idea to begin with. I must have been insane at that time to actually agree—”

“Relax, Kenobi, I designed that anti-tracking extension myself—”

“You don’t understand! He’s gonna literally style-profile them!”

“Stylistics profiling is not foolproof. He probably would end up with nothing. Seriously, you need to chill out.”

“Blast it! Listen, you put them out there, so the least you can do is to take them back before—”

“I don’t need to do anything, Padawan Kenobi. It is my project, so I will decide—”

“—Padawan Chun.”

Both Padawans jumped apart. Obviously neither of them noticed Qui-Gon’s presence. “A word in private, please.”


End file.
